Thursday 28th April 2011

Listening to frontline staff, patients and carers is an important part of making sure older people's mental health services in Derbyshire are of the highest quality and effectively meet patients' needs.

This is why around 160 nurses, health care assistants, carers and therapists - as well as patients and families affected by dementia - were invited to share ideas and suggestions for developing services for Older People with Mental Health (OPMH) problems in Derbyshire's community hospitals.

The newly established Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Trust hosted a series of eight engagement events during the first two weeks in April, bringing together people from OPMH wards at Walton, Newholme and Cavendish Hospitals as well as day hospitals at Clay Cross, Bolsover and Stanton.

Patrick Murphy, General Manager for Older People's Mental Health Services at Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Trust, said: "I wanted to involve staff, patients and carers who experience our services directly, to share ideas and talk about how we ensure our services continue to provide the very best care for people in our local communities. A lot of really useful information has come out of these sessions which will become part of our new service strategy."

Older People’s Mental Health Services are vital for an ageing population, with diagnosed cases of dementia rising and many more people thought to be in the early stages of the illness when diagnosis can be difficult.  In 2007 there were 9,184 diagnosed dementia patients in Derbyshire.

By 2021 it is estimated there will be more than 13,350 diagnosed cases across the county - with up to twice as many again in the undiagnosed early stages of the illness.

One patient in her mid-50s spoke about living with an early diagnosis of dementia. She said: "I take every opportunity to tell my story and to get people to understand that dementia is a disease and a much more varied disease than the image that most people hold of it."

The engagement sessions were facilitated by Jill Guild, a former regional strategy advisor on dementia services. Staff and families affected by dementia will be given a voice in service developments in Derbyshire in the longer term too, with a new Staff and Service User Reference Group for older people's mental health services being set up.

High Peak Advocacy Volunteer Monica Backhouse, was one of those attending. She said: "I was really impressed by the conscientious and hard working staff who I met at my session."

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